this post was submitted on 10 Sep 2025
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Electric Vehicles

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Electric Vehicles are a key part of our tomorrow and how we get there. If we can get all the fossil fuel vehicles off our roads, out of our seas and out of our skies, we'll have a much better environment. This community is where we discuss the various different vehicles and news stories regarding electric transportation.


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[–] SaveTheTuaHawk@lemmy.ca 1 points 1 day ago (1 children)

He's likely to do this because all the EV sales in 2025 barely hit 6%. Assume these cheaply made cars will get half that market, so 3%. That's only until people realize how bad they are. In exchange, we sell China billions in crops they are no longer buying from US.

Before I get the achshully responses...no, EV sales are not limited by pricing because used EVs devalue badly because the used market is a fraction of a fraction of the total market. If costs were the barrier, the used market would be stronger.

And before some simp links to YouTubers reviewing Chinese cars, no auto review source mentions long term reliability, because that is not allowed by manufacturers allowing reviews. So they count cup holders and walk you through countless pointless gadgets that will all break.

A BYD model has a deployable drone for parking. Sure that will last.

[–] miss_demeanour@lemmy.dbzer0.com 18 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (1 children)

Long overdue - the Chinese EVs are affordable, and are kicking ass.

[–] SaveTheTuaHawk@lemmy.ca -2 points 1 day ago (2 children)
[–] Fleur_@aussie.zone 6 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

Assuming this is a derogatory comment; I'm curious why you think people shouldn't be able to purchase these cars for cheaper or market value? It's not like the tariffs are for road safety reasons or anything.

Enjoy your compensatory RAM!

[–] AGD4@lemmy.world 4 points 2 days ago (6 children)

I thought we needed to protect domestic auto production. What does BYD pay their workers to get away with smaller margins?

[–] SaveTheTuaHawk@lemmy.ca 1 points 1 day ago

They pay their workers well, but that's not why these cars are cheap They are cheap because BYD loses money on every car, propped up by the Chinese government on a long term plan to kill off local industries across the world.

[–] JacobCoffinWrites@slrpnk.net 20 points 2 days ago (2 children)

Seems like local industry only wants to focus on ICE vehicles so there's not much to protect

[–] SaveTheTuaHawk@lemmy.ca 1 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

Probably because local industry needs to sell vehicles to make money, not go into $40B debt fronted by the Chinese government.

For every EV sold, Ford sells 15 F150s.

EV sales are barely 6%, you want to try and stay alive with 6% of the market? EU sales are higher, but EU is warmer and they drive a fraction of the distances of Canada.

[–] MrMakabar@slrpnk.net 6 points 2 days ago

I thought most of the Canadian car industry are assembly lines for US American and Japanese companies. Especially the US part is probably dead anyway, given Trumps tariffs.

[–] UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world 11 points 2 days ago (1 children)

What does BYD pay their workers to get away with smaller margins?

They're vertically integrated. It isn't that they need to low-ball their workers. They just don't need to pay a daisy chain of administrators and investors.

They also don't invest as much in R&D as some of their upstart competitors. So we'll see where that lands them, long term.

[–] SaveTheTuaHawk@lemmy.ca 3 points 1 day ago (1 children)

There is not much R&D to invest in EVs. Motors are 98% efficient and any technical advances come from battery suppliers. No transmissions, no emissions to meet, etc.

[–] Lemmyoutofhere@lemmy.ca 7 points 2 days ago (3 children)

We just need to make it so they are built here. To hell with the US car companies.

[–] SaveTheTuaHawk@lemmy.ca 1 points 1 day ago

Unlikely to happen because that would mean they would cost as much as other EV imports and Canada does not buy enough cars to justify the investment. The only reason why the auto sector exists in Canada is to feed the US market.

[–] DaddleDew@lemmy.world 9 points 2 days ago (1 children)

I've heard there are a few Canadian carmaking employees looking for work. Wink-wink nudge-nudge.

[–] AtariDump@lemmy.world 2 points 2 days ago

SayNoMore, SayNoMore.

[–] MrMakabar@slrpnk.net 4 points 2 days ago (1 children)

BYD just has had a 30% drop in profits. So the answer is they do not get away with it. They are among the best Chinese car makers too. A lot of them loose money. The fundamental problem is that China built up a massive local car industry. Not for export, but for the domestic market. This was massivly supported by local Chinese governement, which gave subsidies to built car factories. Globally nobody cared that much, but Covid destroyed car sales in China and they so far have not recovered. The factories have been built, so it makes economic sense to just built cars in them, if the losses of doing so are lower then taking on the loss of the entire factory. Obviously export is a great solution for that problem and obviously Western car makers are not happy about having to compete with companies, which basically have free factories.

We probably will see a lot of bancrupcies in the sector and some of the large ones survivng and doing well globally. BYD is probably among them.

[–] SaveTheTuaHawk@lemmy.ca 1 points 1 day ago (1 children)

BYD is $30B in debt.

China is dumping and drop shipping these cars. If Carney allows this, he's basically going to shut down the auto sector in Canada and 440,000 jobs. Australia did this, and now they have all the shitty Chinese cars they want.

The question is for the long term: is the auto sector worth the billions of continual subsidies? Australia did the math and concluded not.

[–] Fleur_@aussie.zone 1 points 1 day ago

That's a fair point, the trade off being it pushes people away from cheaper vehicles.

[–] humanspiral@lemmy.ca 4 points 2 days ago

Considering is probably just gaslighting, but can make auto sector more cooperative with Canadian investment. Very good news to finally visit China and talk for a change, though.

A 30% tariff would allow for decent Chinese market share while also preserving existing auto sector marketing preferences. Ultimately, a trade deal that includes manufacturing investments in autos, solar, H2, robotics, AI datacenters, public charging is a needed boost for Canadian economy including local use of metals and other resources, and a plan B for autoworkers. Canada needs new friends.